First Test: Bangladesh slip to 37/2 at tea as India take control
Chattogram (PTI): Pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav reduced Bangladesh to 37 for 2 at tea after a stunning lower order fightback helped India take control of the opening Test against Bangladesh here on Thursday.
Siraj struck on the very first ball when he induced an edge off lefthander Najmul Hossain Shanto with an away going delivery.
Leading the pace department in absence of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, Yadav then reduced Bangladesh to 5 for 2 inside the fourth over after inducing an inside edge off Yasir Ali, who was playing away from his body.
But thereafter Litton Das calmed things down with his fluent drives and remained unbeaten on 24 off 26 balls.
At the break, Das and Zakir Hasan (9) were in the middle with Bangladesh trailing India by 367 runs with eight wickets in hand.
The opening session was all about Ravichandran Ashwin (58 off 113 balls, 2x4, 2x6) and Kuldeep Yadav, who made a perfect case for him as an allrounder in absence of Ravindra Jadeja, with a career-best 40 (114b; 5x4).
Playing his first Test after more than 22 months, Kuldeep extended a splendid support to Ashwin as the duo frustrated Bangladesh with an 87-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
The 28-year-old Kuldeep, who has a century and six fifties averaging 22-plus in first class cricket, got off the mark after 18 balls as he looked solid with his defence. His slog sweep and reverse sweep shots also caught the attention.
Ashwin, who has five Test centuries including four against the West Indies, showed a lot of composure and maturity en route to his 13th Test halfcentury.
The duo hardly took a foot wrong pushing India past the 400-mark after the visitors resumed the day at 278 for 6 and lost overnight batter Shreyas Iyer (86) with the addition of just four runs to his total.
Having batted India out of a tricky spot on the opening day, Iyer once again failed to get to a well-deserved hundred and got out with addition of just four runs to his overnight total.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan mostly employed his star spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz to go in tandem with pacer Khaled Ahmed but Ashwin hardly looked in any trouble.
He made his intent clear stepping down to Mehidy for a six. Luck also favoured Ashwin when he survived an 'umpire's call' after left-arm spinner Taijul Islam had him trapped in front of the legstump when he was on 34.
That pace spearhead Ebadot Hossain was taken out of the attack after his impressive spell of 4-1-7-1 in the morning also helped the Indian cause.
Kuldeep also oozed confidence as Ashwin was happy to take singles and give him the strike.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
